Stories from Thursday, March 5, 2015

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer The National Weather Service so far has been "spot-on" in predicting this round of winter weather. Early this morning heavy rain served as the harbinger of another dismal forecast of accumulating ice and snow. Before sunrise Wednesday, the NWS issued watches, warnings and advisories that all elude to what will likely be a miserable few days in Butler and surrounding counties...

By MICHELLE FRIEDRICH Associate Editor JEFFERSON CITY -- Complaints recently were filed against two Doniphan men, who, as licensed peace officers, were involved in an alleged scheme involving the falsification of affidavits for the obtaining of concealed weapons certification...

By DONNA FARLEY and DAVID SILVERBERG Staff Writers There will be no further efforts by the City of Poplar Bluff to collect approximately $200,000 in debt from a former internet company. City manager Heath Kaplan made the announcement Monday at both a Municipal Utilities Advisory Board meeting and a city council meeting...

Stella Linson PUXICO, Mo. -- Stella Linson, 90, of Puxico, passed away Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015 at the Puxico Nursing Center. She was the daughter of the late John C. and Georgia Potter Hodge, and was born in Harrisburg, Ill. on June 9, 1924. She had lived in Michigan until moving to Puxico in 1976. She had worked as a nurse at the Pontiac General Hospital in Pontiac, Mich. and was a member of the Puxico General Baptist Church...

Brenda Evans Brenda Kay (Mayo) Evans, 63, of Bloomfield died Feb. 19, 21015 at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. Services were held Feb. 24, 2015 at Watkins & Sons Funeral Home in Dexter. Rev. Greg Stevens officiated. Burial followed in the Walker Cemetery near Bloomfield with Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home in Bloomfield in charge of arrangements...

By PAT PRATT SEMO News Service The Baldknobbers concert which was postponed in February has been rescheduled 2 p.m. Sunday, March 8. Pre-purchased tickets for the event will be honored on the rescheduled date. Poplar Bluff can get a taste of Branson without the drive when country music comedians The Baldknobbers take the stage at the Rodgers Theater...

By MICHELLE L. VARVIL Greg Bell of Smith & Company was on hand Feb. 19 to discuss the necessary updates needed for the city's lagoon to meet the sewer limits requirements for the 2018 permitting through the Department of Natural Resources. According to Bell, the major area of concern is the ammonia limits during the warmer months. ...

By SCOTT WELTON SEMO News Service NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Having his story featured on "The Rachael Ray Show" was a memorable experience, but that isn't why New Madrid County Central High School's band director lost 370 pounds. "I did it for myself and for my band students so I wouldn't keel over," said Ryan Blocker, a Farmington, Missouri, native...

SEMO News Service The John J. Pershing VA Medical Center plans to hold a meeting about veterans affairs' services and benefits to gather feedback from patients, family members and the community. The meeting will take place at 5 p.m. on March 10 at the VFW Post 3174 in Sikeston (709 Smith St.). The meeting will begin with refreshments, until the actual meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. It is expected to last an hour...

Marshall the Miracle Dog will be showing Saturday, March 7, at Twin Cinema in Dexter. The movie will have a one-time showing at 10 a.m. (90 minutes long). University of Missouri Extension staff, Stephanie Milner, 4-H Youth Development Specialist, and Angel Tyler, 4-H Youth Program Assistant, will be in attendance of the movie as well. ...

By MICHELLE L. VARVIL The Puxico Board of Aldermen voted to extend the city's water lines to three residents on Highway T during its regular monthly meeting Feb. 19. "Three residents along Highway T have requested that we extend the city's water line to their area," said Hawthorne. "At the moment, the line stops at Stan Dorrough's home in Lee Subdivision. The Highway T residents are willing to pay for the materials to extend the line, and the city would do the labor."...

By NOREEN HYSLOP SEMO News Service BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Through combined efforts of the Missouri Department of Conservation and local volunteers, another successful Women's Rabbit Hunt was held on the grounds of the Gobbler Ridge Farms Disabled Veterans Facility located just southwest of Bloomfield. The facility was established in 2012 when landowners, Tom Love and Alan Hedrick, made available a 120-acre tract of land to be utilized as a haven for disabled veterans and other special guests...

By ROB TATE SEMO News Service The No. 6-seed Lady Indians' season came to a close in a MSHSAA Class 2 District quarterfinal in Van Buren. Thayer beat the Indians 79 to 46. Puxico can hang its hat on another step in the right direction for the school that just started playing varsity basketball again in 2010...

By KRISTIN DeJOURNETT-SIMON SEMO News Service Chris Welch is a 2008 graduate of Advance High School, but he's currently living in St. Louis and writing and singing his own music. "When I first started playing I was playing red dirt country and Americana, so I guess you could say that's what my genre is," says Welch. "It's really just my own stuff."...

SEMO News Service The National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., has issued a winter storm watch for Wednesday and Thursday, March 4-5. with four to six inches of snow possible. Heavy rain and a few storms are possible today. Today's high will reach 50 degrees, but temperatures will plummet into the 20s. Rain will change to sleet and snow early Wednesday morning, March 4...

By JONATHON DAWE SEMO News Service Historically, the state of Missouri has incarcerated more property crime and violent crime offenders than the national average. And while the state has seen a drop in such numbers recently, the decline is something that Stoddard County has been experiencing for a while now...

By ALEX WEST Staff Writer "It's just a baby tooth." "Why worry about cavities if it's just going to fall out anyway?" "Children don't need to see the dentist until they have their adult set of teeth." Misconceptions surround the world of children's dentistry, and one local business has the experience and knowledge to help clear up any confusion. Poplar Bluff Children's Dentistry offers the only board certified pediatric dentist in Southeast Missouri...

By FRANK CAMPA Mo. Dept. of Conservation There is no doubt, there is a little "cabin fever" going around. With all the snow and ice and school closings, we have all probably spent a little too much time with each other in close quarters inside for too long...

By PAUL DAVIS Outdoors Editor During its most recent monthly meeting, the Missouri Conservation Commission moved ahead with plans to allow the state's hunters and anglers to carry electronic permits in the future. The change will be a welcome one, especially for those who buy a lot of permits and don't like carrying a stack of papers around...

By JOHN PRATT Mo. Dept. of Conservation Each year at this time, there are usually some banquet dinners and fundraisers for various outdoor-related organizations. One group has been in existence for many years. The group I am going to talk about today is a local organization that has been having fundraising dinners and spending the money on a local basis for well over 30 years...

Poplar Bluff High School has announced its January Students of Month. They are: 9th Grade: Alexis Tinsley and Juan Ventura have been selected as the 9th grade PBHS Students of the Month for January. Alexis Tinsley is the daughter of Austin Tinsley and Maria White. ...

By MONA CHAREN Gov. Scott Walker has leapt to the top of polls in Iowa. As day follows night, he has moved to the center of the liberal press's crosshairs. This is the world we inhabit: When a Democrat is perceived as popular, the press discovers layers of humor and elan we never suspected. When a Republican is gaining strength, the press sharpens its bayonets...

By MIKE JENSEN Publisher Sikeston Standard Democrat Like many of you, I am sorely disappointed with the leadership in Washington, D.C., that has plunged this great nation into a fiscal and international mess of historic proportions. But the lack of leadership that disappoints me the most is the miserable failure and continued incompetence of the Republican leadership - and I use that term loosely...

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN If the sadists of ISIS are seeking -- with their mass executions, child rapes, immolations, and beheadings of Christians -- to stampede us into a new war in the Middle East, they are succeeding. Repeatedly snapping the blood-red cape of terrorist atrocities in our faces has the Yankee bull snorting, pawing the ground, ready to charge again...

By NOREEN HYSLOP SEMO News Service PUXICO, Mo. -- More and more often, the public is hearing of bobcat sightings in southeast Missouri. A recent facebook posting of a bobcat seen within the confines of Mingo Wildlife Refuge confirmed their presence once again in the area and raised some questions for Peter Rea, Refuge Ranger at Mingo...

"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired thee that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Luke 22-31-32. What did he mean? Did he not mean that Satan would do his best to deceive, frighten and misdirect his thinking so he might use him as he was using Judas that very night? Was it not a warning that a time of testing was at hand? Peter was very self-confident. ...

It is time to enroll preschool children for kindergarten. Kindergarten Round Up will be held March 11, 2105, in the gymnasium at Zalma School, beginning at 8:30 a.m. by appointment only. For a child to enroll in kindergarten, the child should become five, BEFORE Aug. 1, 2015. If you have a child that will be in kindergarten next year, please call Kim Riney at the elementary school office at 722-3136 and make an appointment for your child...

By PAT PRATT Staff Writer The chances of the New Madrid "big one" rocking the area may be greater than previously thought according a recent update of the US Geological Survey's (USGS) National Seismic Hazards Map. The updates reflect the USGS's best and most recent understanding of when and where earthquakes are likely to occur and how intense they might be. The map was previously released in 2008 and shows earthquake potential across a 50-year period...

Sam Powell MALDEN, Mo. -- Sam Lee Powell, 74, of Malden died Sunday, March 1, 2015 at his residence. Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Sunnyvale General Baptist Church where the funeral will follow at 11 a.m. Burial will be in the Memorial Park in Malden. Bradshaw Funeral Home of Malden is in charge of arrangements...

Bill Sadler, 71, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Tuesday, March 3, 2015, at John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. Funeral arrangements are pending with Fowler-Sullivan Funeral Home of Poplar Bluff.

Earl Hubenthal DEXTER, Mo. -- Earl Joseph Hubenthal, 98, died Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, at his residence in Dexter. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Friday at the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter. Funeral services will follow at 1 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will follow in the Dexter Cemetery...

Michael Goesman FARMINGTON, Mo. -- Michael E. Goesman, 61, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., died Sunday, March 1, 2015, at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center. Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Taylor Funeral & Cremation Service, Inc., Farmington. A memorial service will follow at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Taylor Funeral Chapel. Full military honors and LeadBelt Patriot Guard Riders will participate in the service...

Ken Crow Kenneth Wayne Crow, 76, formerly of Neelyville, passed away Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015 in Thailand. He was born March 4, 1938 to James Allen and Ina Maude Crow. He was preceded in death by one son, Kevin Crow. Mr. Crow was survived by his daughter, Erlene Willcut Pitt, his son, James Crow, five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, three sisters: Fern Stephens of Poplar...

ARNOLD -- The Mules look to end five years of postseason frustration Thursday night in the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 final. Poplar Bluff faces Jackson in the championship game at Fox High School at 7 p.m. Thursday, weather permitting, putting the top-seeded Mules against the defending champions...

ARNOLD -- The Mules started well and ended better Tuesday night. "The middle just wasn't very good," Poplar Bluff coach William Durden said following a 72-55 win over Seckman in the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 semifinal. The Mules scored seven straight after tipoff and built an early double-digit lead before finishing with a 28-12 run after Seckman got within a point late in the third quarter...

BLOOMFIELD -- Naylor's dominance in the MSHSAA Class 1 sectional round continued Tuesday night. This time around, Oran was the victim. After a little bit of a sluggish start, Naylor kicked it into high gear, especially on defense, and cruised to the quarterfinals for the sixth consecutive season with a 58-31 win...

Pat Johnson Pat C. Johnson, 42, of Poplar Bluff, passed away, Friday, Feb. 27, 2015, at Poplar Bluff Regional Hospital. She was born Feb. 28, 1971 in Oxford, Miss., to the late Lonzo Paten and Pearl Orange Yancy. Pat confessed a hope in Christ at an early age, after moving from Mississippi to Missouri. ...

Edna Decker Edna F. Decker (nee Miller), formerly of Qulin, died Monday, March 2, 2015, Meramac Nursing Center in Sullivan, Mo. She was the beloved wife of the late Pete Decker. Dear mother of Steven Decker and the late Linda Wessel and Doyle and Gary Decker. Our dear grandmother, great-grandmother, sister-in-law, aunt and friend...

SIKESTON -- Dexter is back in very familiar territory. For the eighth-straight year the Bearcats will play for a district championship after cruising past Cape Central 66-30 Tuesday night at the Sikeston Field House during the Class 4, District 1 tournament semifinals...